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NEW TRUCKING RULES — WHAT’S IN, WHAT’S OUT: The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration released its final rule on truckers hours of service Thursday, narrowly avoiding the Friday news dump. The relevant deets: The maximum hours a truck driver can work each week has been reduced from 82 to 70 hours, truckers cannot work more than eight hours straight without a 30-minute break, and drivers who max out their weekly hours must rest from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. at least twice a week. What’s not in that had been considered: A trim from 11 to 10 hours of maximum driving time and a mandatory rest break after seven hours. New rule: http://1.usa.gov/vo3osv; Flashback -- proposed rules: http://1.usa.gov/hvPZSH

There’s a lot to chew over — some sources MT reached out to say that transportation-focused pols and their staff need to crunch the numbers before responding to the new rule. But the American Trucking Association strongly denounced the decision. “FMCSA has chosen to eschew a stream of positive safety data and cave in to a vocal anti-truck minority and issue a rule that will have no positive impact on safety,” CEO Bill Graves said. “If there is a positive in this rule, it is the lengthy period of time before it becomes effective.” The rest break rules take hold July 1, 2013, but some provisions start on Feb. 27, 2012. Meanwhile, the Truck Safety Coalition said the rules don’t go far enough, writing in a release about keeping the 11-hour max: “The rule retained one of the most unsafe provisions of the former rule.” In summary, no one is happy.

ALL ABOARD CURBSIDE CARRIERS: DePaul is out with an update on intercity bus travel, and the numbers are encouraging for the industry. Intercity bus travel jumped more than 7 percent, and curbside operators’ trips were up 32 percent (the numbers exclude Chinatown carriers). Another sign curbside is here to stay: MegaBus and BoltBus hubs in Chicago and New York City are both self-sustaining and possibly profitable. That means concerns safety proponents like Kay Bailey Hutchison, Sherrod Brown, Bill Shuster and John Lewis have had about bus carriers aren’t going anywhere. Here’s the report: http://bit.ly/rzy2UJ. Which leads us to ...

BUS, TRUCK SAFETY GLIMMERS OF HOPE: December’s Commerce hearing, which saw a bus and truck safety bill amended to include Frank Lautenberg’s FREIGHT Act, left the safety bill’s future seriously in doubt. Both Jim DeMint and Hutchison said the bill will be held in its current form. But Jackie Gillan of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety told MT that safety proponents shouldn’t get down just yet. “The fact that they marked up four bills and did a couple nominations in an hour and 15 minutes” was encouraging, she said, especially because she is “used to those knockdown, drag-out markups.” Gillan said she has detected among senators a “sense that they’re not so far apart that they can’t come together.” Hutchison told MT last week that she hopes to work with Lautenberg on something that can actually make it onto the floor.

But does that bill miss the point? Amalgamated Transit Union President Larry Hanley thinks so. Bus safety’s biggest problem isn’t a lack of seatbelts, he said, but instead one of fair pay. “The problem is there is no technology to keep drivers’ eyes open,” he told MT. Hanley ticked off that most drivers don’t get overtime or health care and often only get paid while they are behind the wheel, even though there is still pre- and post-trip work to be done. So tired drivers chasing money to make a decent wage are the real cause of unsafe bus carriers, he said, not a lack of safety regulation. Hanley and ATU support a recently introduced bill from Chuck Schumer (http://1.usa.gov/uxLB1o) that seeks to address truckers’ pay concerns.

GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME to the final 2011 edition of POLITICO's Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on the wide world of planes, trains, automobiles and airborne sleighs. If it moves, it's news. Even though we won’t return until Jan. 3, keep sending all your good stuff to asnider@politico.com and beverett@politico.com. Catch us on Twitter at @BurgessEv and @AdamKSnider. BUT OUR WORK CONTINUES: Keep your eyes peeled next week for stories from us about bipartisanship on the T&I committee and on national distracted driving policy.

DO BODY SCANNERS WORK? ProPublica asks “Just How Good Are the TSA’s Body Scanners?” and though a definitive answer is not immediately presented, Michael Grabell raises plenty of questions. Homeland Security investigators found vulnerabilities in the scanners last week and questions have arisen over whether explosive devices such as the one used by the so-called underwear bomber would be detected. Most ominous is that Transportation & Infrastructure Chairman John Mica has been briefed on the failure rate, which he called “embarrassing.” But the Government Accountability Office data haven’t been released publicly, so we’ll have to take his word for now. Full story: http://bit.ly/rXOFjE

ODD JOB — The difference between jobs and job-years: Perhaps a dictionary should mediate a dispute over just how many jobs will be created by the full implementation of California’s high-speed rail system. A Contra Costa Times report took issue with the frequently cited (by rail proponents) figure of 1 million jobs being created by a statewide system. The Times concluded that figure is for job-years (i.e., one year on the job=one job created) and is misleading: About 20,000 construction workers and 40,000 “spin-off” workers like restaurant workers working the 22 years during construction would add up to 1 million job-years. In addition, about 4,150 employees would run the network after its completion, the Times found. http://bit.ly/tGNU0R

California High Speed Rail Authority board member Mike Rossi responded to the Times report as well as testimony at last week’s hearing on the program by arguing that creating jobs is not the main focus of the program, but still a tangible benefit. “The case for high-speed rail is in the numbers. … State leaders should be open to whatever alternative can best solve the long-term mobility problem, but I do not see a better financial or environmental alternative.” The authority also notes it usually explicitly defines the term “job-years,” but conceded that “in some cases, discussion of construction employment has been shorthanded to refer simply to ‘jobs’, which is an imprecise and potentially confusing description” and said in future communication it will not use that shorthand.

MT POLL — Short- or long-term? Do you want a short-term, paid-for highway/transit bill now? Or do you want to see lawmakers go to the mat over a six-year bill? Vote and see results: http://bit.ly/siw8ML.

- As Fisker ramps up deliveries of its hybrid Karma sedan, the company is looking to move past scrutiny into its DOE loan. BusinessWeek: http://buswk.co/tXtRhG

- Speaking of the Karma, car blog Jalopnik reports that former Secretary of State Colin Powell isn’t very good at parking his (debate over the park job in the comments section): http://jalo.ps/uVi8Mj

THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy runs out in 100 days, FAA in 40 days and DOT funding in 282 days. There are 319 days before the 2012 election. It's been 814 days (and eight extensions) since SAFETEA-LU expired, and 1,545 days (and 22 extensions) since the last FAA bill.

LENDING A HAND: A trio of Metro riders leaped to the aid of a man in a wheelchair who fell onto the tracks at Potomac Avenue station on Thursday afternoon. The authorities were called in to assist, but by the time they got there, Good Samaritans had already done their work. The man went to the hospital with head injuries. Examiner: http://bit.ly/u1hYqW

CABOOSE — Cleared for takeoff: Secretary LaHood on Santa: “I’m pleased to say our air traffic controllers will have the opportunity to work with the world’s safest pilot very soon. Santa Claus has been flying accident-free for centuries, and today our FAA safety inspectors have cleared Santa One — the world’s only known reindeer-powered aircraft — to deliver presents to children around the world this year.” Oh yeah, and NORAD is tracking Santa’s progress this year too. No word on if the new pilot fatigue rules apply to the jolly one. Way, way more, including a quip on elf productivity: http://bit.ly/sG3rCj